Bartholomew Gales and Annabeth Black's private lessons
|required textbooks=None |required equipment=None |first=''D.I.T. Website'' |latest= |last= }} A short-lived series of private lessons took place in 2017, during which Annabeth Black attempted to teach Bartholomew Gales the skill of mind resistance. The lessons began under the insistence of Mr. Stupid NoHead, who believed that Gales was vulnerable to the Light, and so the class was designed to give Gales protection from this type of mind invasion. Background Despite having a crush on Annabeth Black, Bartholomew Gales took on some much more pressing worries that night. He saw a vision in which he found Mr. Stupid NoHead being immolated by his holding a log, and upon waking up, he felt almost as if he wanted to betray the NoHeads in real life. Realizing what could happen if the link grew more powerful, Mr. Stupid NoHead commissioned Annabeth to train Bartholomew in mind resistance in an effort to prevent further problems. Immediately, NoHead had Black drag Gales downstairs to her private quarters, still in his nightclothes, to begin practicing. Overview Lessons were given once a week, under the guise of Remedial Academic Tutoring, much to Bartholomew's discomfort. This was to prevent other people from finding out about Barty's wavering loyalties. Annabeth made it clear that everybody who had seen Barty in Academic classes could not deny that he needed remedial help. Barty told his best friend Rebecca about the lessons, despite Annabeth forbidding him from telling anyone else the truth. Mr. Stupid NoHead himself refused to teach Bartholomew simply because he believed such a thing was below him. Annabeth took it as the Grandmaster having the right to delegate less-enjoyable tasks to other teachers. Sean was confident due to Black's mastery in mind resistance, and encouraged Gales to try his hardest. Under Annabeth's tutelage, Bartholomew repeatedly had his mind broken into in order to train him. Annabeth also ordered Barty to close his mind every night as practice. Unfortunately, Black was unkind and discouraging in her methods despite her own mastery of the skill, despite having little experience in teaching. Meanwhile, Gales did not take Annabeth's lessons too seriously, and neglected to practice. Coupled with Bartholomew being emotionally open at all times, the lessons did not progress much, with only rare instances where Gales able to resist, if only briefly. If anything, having his mind repeatedly assaulted forced Bartholomew to leave himself more vulnerable, as he barely tried to close it willingly. Unenthusiastic though both were, Annabeth was nonetheless disappointed with Bartholomew's lack of progress and efforts, as Annabeth herself had to give up her evenings for these trainings, and would scold Bartholomew viciously for negligence. Cancellation At one point, Black learned that Gales had a crush on her, and that he had sex before. The visions also showed her that Gales' worst fear was Mr. Stupid NoHead betraying and murdering him. Bartholomew shouted at Annabeth to stop, insisting those memories were private, but Annabeth disagreed, and only called him weak. She prepared to assault him again, only for Bartholomew to make the mind probe rebound for the first time. He was able to witness an equally private memory of Annabeth being bullied and harassed by Zach Kellerman, who turned her upside-down to reveal her underwear in front of many students, including Alice Shinner. Alice came to Annabeth's defense, but this only made things worse: in a subsequent lashing out at Zach in an attempt to recover her lost dignity, Annabeth inadvertently called Alice a "filthy little Slimebreed". Shinner became furious, and stormed away in fury. Annabeth was so furious at Bartholomew that she threw him out of her room and forbade him from ever coming back again. Despite Sean's insistence for Bartholomew to continue, it was never followed through. For all the rest of that semester, she treated Bartholomew with redoubled contempt and fury and ignored him whenever possible. Impact As Bartholomew was an emotional mutant, he was never able to master mind resistance as a skill; even Mr. Stupid NoHead had to admit that the lessons were a "debacle". However, he was eventually able to gain a degree of control over the unique connection by focusing on feelings of grief or love, and he ultimately remained a follower of the Darkness. Eventually, Gales came to regret his behavior, and made it up to Black by showing her the solar eclipse of 2017. Behind the scenes These lessons mark an unusual time when they at least have somewhat decent conversations, as Annabeth is able to tell Bartholomew information no one else will tell him before due to their fear Bartholomew is possessed. Appearances * Notes and references Category:Mind resistance Category:Mutant education Category:Lessons